


The Sting and the Shame

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Eye Trauma, Gen, HE LITERALLY GETS AN EYE GOUGED OUT IN CHAPTER 4, Verbal Humiliation, boot licking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-17 11:57:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5868502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kylo needs punishing.</p><p>It's not porn, but you wouldn't watch it with your parents, you know?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Supreme Leader had been quite clear with his instructions. Kylo Ren had messed up, badly, and it was down to the General to decide what a fitting punishment would be. A million ideas had crossed his mind over the last few hours, from the most militarily appropriate to the more, so to speak, unorthodox, but now that he had the knight standing before him - shifting uneasily from foot to foot, and looking vulnerable and more than a little afraid, now that he had taken his helmet off and held it under his arm - a new idea came to the General's mind.

'Do you know how far you have set this mission back with your antics?' Hux said, leaning back in his chair and staring hard at Kylo. The knight didn't reply, but just glared back, pretending that he didn't care what the General, or anyone else, thought of his actions. Hux would see about that. 'You know that I keep you aboard this ship only because I am ordered to do so. If I had the choice,' Hux went on, 'I would strip you of everything you hold dear. Your Order-' he stood and roughly knocked Kylo's helmet from his arm to the floor - 'Your rank-' he gave Kylo a slap to the face, just enough to make tears of shock spring to his eyes - 'Even your very name. You're nothing but the son of a thief, and I'd make sure everyone knew it.'

'You can't-' Kylo began, then stopped short. The look on the General's face said that he very much would. 

'You aren't fit to scrub the floors of this ship, never mind anything else,' Hux continued, walking slowly in circles around Kylo. 'You are a liability. You do not think,' he spat. 'You have neither the intellect nor the skill to be a real leader, and you don't even have the courage to be a real man.' He paused in front of Kylo, to see the effect of his words. The tears were starting to fall, and he was right; Kylo wasn't brave enough to answer him back, for fear of the Leader's punishment. He couldn't even look the General in the eye. 

'A real man would have owned up to his actions, and admitted he was at fault,' he said, putting a hand under Kylo's chin and jerking his head up sharply. 'But you? You cower in your room like a child, or you throw tantrums in control rooms, destroying instruments like they were toys. Everyone aboard this ship laughs behind your back, you know,' he went on, greatly enjoying the red flush that spread across Kylo's face. 'They think you're pathetic, an out-of-control, spoiled, pampered little prince who screams and cries when things don't go his way. And they're right.'

Kylo was visibly trembling now, the sting and the shame of Hux's words getting under his skin. 'I'm-' he began again, but was cut off by another stinging slap.

'Don't you dare tell me you're sorry, you crawling little brat,' Hux hissed, fighting the urge to hit Kylo properly, do some real damage; maybe break his jaw and shut him up for a few weeks. 'Your words mean less than nothing to me. You'll say anything to try to worm your way out of trouble. You are even more like your father than I imagined.' He paused for a moment to savour the way Kylo's suppressed sobs were racking his body. 'No, you're not sorry. But you will be.'

* 

Kylo's eyes widened as the General placed his hands on his shoulders. Hux was practically salivating at the sight of Kylo's uncertainty. 'Don't worry, Ren,' he said, a mocking tone entering his voice. 'I won't hurt you. You're such a delicate flower; I'd hate to do you any damage.' He'd love to, he thought to himself; maybe next time. Kylo's face flushed once again as Hux pushed him slowly to his knees. 'Like I said, you aren't fit to scrub the floors, so why don't we start with something easier?' He put one foot on Kylo's shoulder and pushed him all the way to the ground. 'Lick my boots clean, you fucking piece of garbage.'

Kylo lay frozen on the floor, torn between resisting the humiliation and his need to obey orders. They both knew that Kylo could kill him right there and then, but then where would he be? Expelled from the First Order, and most likely hunted down and torn apart. Power ripped away before he'd even had a real taste of it. Hux could see all of these thoughts flash across Kylo's face in an instant before, hesitantly, Kylo began to shuffle on his belly towards the General's feet.

'Come on, Ren, I haven't got all day,' Hux snapped, as Kylo inched his face towards the General's leather-clad toes. Slowly, so slowly, he watched Kylo extend his tongue from that obscene, pouting mouth, and place its very tip upon the General's boot.

'There we go,' Hux said, as Kylo ran his tongue across the arch of his boot, his eyes screwed closed, the tears falling freely. 'That wasn't so difficult, was it? No, no, don't stop,' he said, as Kylo tried to pull away. 'I said clean.'

He couldn't help but laugh as Kylo started licking away, his head bobbing, clearly just trying to get it over with as soon as possible. 'Anyone would think you're enjoying this, Ren,' he said, relishing the slight pressure he felt through the leather. This golden boy was long overdue a spot of humiliation, he thought, as he gently pressed Kylo's head down into his work with his free foot. The General had worked so hard to get to where he was, and then this ingenue - barely more than a child - had been parachuted in as though he were Hux's equal. Yes, he thought, as he regained his balance, and Kylo pulled his head back, panting, from the now-gleaming boot. Long overdue.

'Not a bad job,' he said, leaning forward slightly to take a look. 'If the Leader does decide to demote you, at least we've found something you're good at. Wait a minute,' he said, as Kylo tried to stand up, but he didn't need to say any more as the knight sank, defeated, to work on the other boot.

'You see?' Hux said, as he smirked down at the back of Kylo's head. 'When you aren't being stubborn and petulant, you can be very useful. That's what you want, isn't it? To be of use to the First Order?' His smirk became a grin as he saw Kylo nod. 'Good. Are you going to act a little more thoughtfully from now on?' The words were barely out of his mouth as Kylo nodded vigorously. 'What a good boy. Good little knight.' He could sense the burning shame rising once more from Kylo as he pulled away once more, but Kylo only knelt on the floor, head bowed, not willing to meet the General's eyes.

'I think you've learned your lesson,' Hux said, curling his toes in their shiny boots. They had been perfectly clean before they started, of course, but that was neither here nor there. 'This is a military ship, not a kindergarten. There will be no more tantrums from you; I want to see you behaving in a manner becoming of a real leader. Do I make myself clear?' Kylo nodded once more, tears having turned to stifled rage. 'Then get out of my sight.'

Hux sighed to himself as Kylo scurried away. There would be more tantrums; there always were. This so-called knight would never learn how to conduct himself. Still, Hux now had the memory of Kylo's subjugation to hold over him, and he knew Kylo wouldn't forget it in a hurry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He just won't learn.
> 
> Part one of two

Just as he'd predicted: another day, another childish rage. This particular one had rendered an entire sector of the ship unusable, but now that he had been given permission to discipline Kylo any way he saw fit for the forseeable future, he saw no reason to turn a blind eye any more. The boy wonder had been given free rein for too long - for his entire life, it seemed - and now it was time to teach him how the real world worked.

'As you may have heard, Ren,' he said, standing with his hands clasped neatly behind his back, 'the Leader has given me the responsibility for your moral development. I did suggest to him that we could take the easy route and throw you out of the airlock with the rest of the ship's refuse, but he seems to think that you are worth preserving, for now. Provided you behave yourself, and submit to correction when I deem you to have failed to do so. Do you understand?'

'You can keep your weird, sadistic bullshit, okay?' Kylo said, pacing angrily to and fro in his quarters. Hux's lip curled slightly at the disorder present in the room. Belongings strewn haphazardly on every surface. Bedclothes screwed up at the foot of the bed. Sheets that he clearly hadn't allowed the cleaning crew to change for some time. 'I don't have to do anything.' Even as he said it, though, his face betrayed him.

'Tell me, Ren: why are you here? I mean, why did you join with the First Order?' Hux asked, but didn't wait for an answer. 'I'll tell you; you joined because you can't rule the big, bad galaxy all on your own, now can you? Just you and your half-dozen henchmen? No, I don't think so. Maybe another, finer example of your kind would have that capacity-' he saw Kylo clench his fists, then relax them again quickly - 'but not you. Ultimately, Ren, you need us more than we need you. Without us you are nothing. And so you will follow my directions, or you will be expelled from this Order.'

He watched Kylo's brief internal struggle with amusement. If the General had thought for a moment he was putting himself in harm's way by coming to Kylo's quarters, he'd have sent a trooper with the message instead. No: Kylo may be comforting himself with thoughts of murdering his General, but he would never do it. He had too much to lose. 

Kylo closed his eyes and breathed deeply. 'What do you want me to do?'

*

The lights were dim in the sector Kylo had knocked out of action. Only the ones powered by the emergency generators were in operation, and the shadows gave the long, deserted corridors an eerie feel. Kylo walked slowly, a couple of steps in front of the General so Hux could see him.

'Stop there,' said Hux, as they drew level with a door. Kylo dutifully halted, not glancing around. 'Why don't you talk me through what went through your mind when you started your little rampage, hm? It was in here, wasn't it?' Hux reached to the side and opened the door. Fragments of metal and plastic lay strewn across the darkened room. 'What was the precious Kylo Ren thinking?'

Kylo said nothing. He stared resolutely at the ground, not even glancing at the destruction he had caused. He looked like nothing more than a gangly, awkward adolescent without his cloak and helmet, Hux decided. 'What was so terrible that you felt the need to do this? Spit it out, Ren.' He almost laughed out loud when he thought of what he was about to say. 'I'm not angry with you; I'm just disappointed.'

'Did they not serve breakfast the way his highness likes it?' Hux mocked, when Kylo maintained his sullen silence. 'Did a trooper try to look at you? Did someone interrupt your morning self-pleasure?' 

'No!' shouted Kylo, his voice echoing down the halls. The General smirked at having touched a nerve. 'They pissed me off, that's all. Everyone just kept coming in and asking me stuff and wanting stuff and I just can't-'

'You can't what?' interrupted Hux. 'You can't handle your responsibilities? You can't hold more than one thought in your head at any one time?' He paused and took a step back. 'If I behaved this way every time demands were made of me, there would be no ship left. But I don't, because I'm a trained and experienced professional.' There was no remorse on Kylo's face. The knight honestly believed his behaviour was justified. Some people could not be told. Some people had to be shown. 

'But this was just you warming up, wasn't it, Ren?' he continued. 'Throwing one hissy fit wasn't enough for you. Follow me.' He took a step further down the darkened hall, but, when Kylo went to step too, the knight earned a familiar, stinging slap to the face.

'I really don't think we should be walking next to one another, do you?' he said, as Kylo held a cold hand to his cheek. 'It gives the impression that were are somehow on the the same level. As though you could ever hope to be my equal. No, you'll follow me on your hands and knees. Where you belong.'

Kylo didn't break eye contact with the General as he fell to his knees. This was progress, the General decided. Insolence was a step up from cowardice. Kylo still didn't look away when he placed his hands flat on the floor. He looked so ridiculous down there, neck straining to look up at Hux. Then another idea occurred to the General. 'Take off your boots,' Hux said, 'and leave them here. You won't be rushing off any time soon.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this got weird and fucked up :s also i have no idea how the force works so i'm just kinda making stuff up but hey ho. just need to get this trash boy out of my system.
> 
> part two of two

Kylo didn't have much option but to do as he was told, so he thought he might as well be as pigheaded about it as possible. He sat back on the floor, still never looking away from the General, and pulled off one boot at a time, flinging them carelessly against the wall and enjoying Hux's flinches at each one. 

He didn't care what Hux did to him, he had decided after he fled from their first encounter. Hux could do whatever he wanted, but he, Kylo Ren, was still a master of the Force. His mind was still his own. He could endure whatever degrading bullshit the General could come up with, he knew it. He had that strength in him. He hoped.

No, he wouldn't give the General the satisfaction of hearing him protest, so he kept his lips pressed tightly together as Hux started walking down the corridor, and he followed on hands and knees. This wasn't so bad, he thought. A little crawling, a little lecturing, and then- oh shit.

'As I was saying, Ren,' Hux said, not even bothering to try to hide his sadistic grin, 'you were just getting started.' This part of the sector had been lined with windows - emphasis on had been. The windows were now nothing more than tiny, crystalline fragments coating the hard floor, sparkling evidence of his prolonged spell of rage. He felt a small twinge of shame at the sight of it. Usually, the remnants of his episodes were cleared away swiftly, and he never gave them much thought. To be confronted with this after the red mist had cleared was disturbing to him.

'You strode down this hall as if you owned this ship,' Hux went on, taking a step onto the broken glass and causing a million tiny squealing crunches under his boot. Kylo deliberately didn't look at the General's boots. Looking at them wouldn't be good for his 'keeping calm' strategy. 'Do you think you own this ship, Ren? Do you think it is yours to do with as you please?' When Kylo maintained his stubborn silence, Hux took another step. 'Come on, then,' he said. 'You made your bed. Now, lie in it.'

Kylo tried desperately to put as little weight on his palms as possible as he moved towards Hux, but the shards sliced into his hands all the same. Dozens of tiny, stinging fragments pushed their way under his skin, each one drawing its own tiny droplet of blood. He had little choice but to put most of his weight on his knees, and angle his feet awkwardly towards the ceiling, hoping that the fabric of his trousers would grant him a little protection from the pain. After two steps, he wanted to cry out, but bit it back.

After four, he tried to block it out.

'Do you think I can't tell when you're trying your nonsense?' Hux hissed, bending down and slapping Kylo straight across the face, bringing him out of it and back to the present with a gasp. This shouldn't be happening. He should be able to endure this pain, and to ignore whatever Hux did to him. If he could just crush that little, nagging feeling of shame he felt, he could do it. 

'You think you're too special to face up to the consequences of your actions,' Hux said, now walking slowly alongside him, coat tails swirling slightly on the edge of Kylo's blurred vision. The blood was starting to flow freely from the scores of cuts on Kylo's hands and knees, and he knew he was leaving a trail of it behind them. The pain was searing, shooting through his arms and legs. Each new step just added more agony.

'I assure you, you are not special,' said the General, ignoring the ragged breaths Kylo was drawing with every movement. 'You are an aberration, that's all. An evolutionary blip. A genetic mistake. But don't worry,' he laughed, nudging Kylo with his toe, making him slip slightly and give a sudden cry. 'I think those genes will die with you. I can't imagine anyone being willing to carry them to another generation for you.'

The pain was now coursing through his entire body. It was in his blood, in his skin, in his nerves. It had taken over his mind completely; the General's words seemed to float on the edge of his consciousness. He didn't even know if he was crying; probably, he thought. He was just that pathetic. His grandfather would never have allowed-

'Stop,' Hux said suddenly, and Kylo almost fell to the floor with relief. Was it over? 'Have you anything to say for yourself?' 

'I'm so sorry,' Kylo sobbed out, before he could stop himself. Maybe if he let the shame out, he could make the pain go away. 'I wish I could take it all back.' He paused to take a rattling breath through the tears. 'Please, I can't take it any more, I'll do anything else, please!'

'Why must you do these things, Ren,' Hux sighed, standing in front of him once more. 'Why do you make it so I have to do this to you?'

'Because I'm a fuck-up', Kylo sniffed, and, in that moment, he knew it was true. 'I always have been. I'm just a fucking stupid kid, and I don't know how to be anything else.'

'Then let me help you,' Hux said gently, reaching down to guide Kylo to his knees. He took one of Kylo's hands and pressed it to his lips. Kylo stared, speechless, as the General kissed his bloody palm, letting the red stain his mouth. 'Let me make you into someone your grandfather would be proud of. Would you like that?' 

When Kylo nodded, the General dropped his hand and smiled again. 'Then I'm sure you can find it in you to get back to your quarters,' he said as he strode away, leaving Kylo marooned in a sea of glass. 'Walk or crawl; I leave that entirely to you.'


	4. An Eye for an Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eye scream, you scream...

'What, exactly, did you think was going to happen if you kept giving me those defiant looks?' Hux said, looming over Kylo. He'd strapped the disobedient knight into his own interrogation chair; he thought that was a nice touch. 'Do you think your ridiculous mask makes you invisible to me? I might not dabble in your magical arts,' he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, 'but I can certainly sense your insolence. It will not go unpunished.'

He rarely even touched the ceremonial dagger he now held lightly in his hand. He considered it a relic, unsophisticated, brutal even, but at that moment it seemed that a little brutality was called for. The man before him was, after all, little better than a barbarian. Violence, pain, power and servitude: these were concepts that one such as Ren could understand. 

'Look at me, scum,' he said, bringing his face millimetres from his captive's. The sweat was pouring from Kylo, and his breathing was quick and shallow. He raised his eyes to look into the General's, and Hux grinned when he saw no sign of impudence left. 'That's more like it. A little respect goes a long way. However,' he said, raising the dagger so Kylo could see it, 'I cannot let your behaviour go uncorrected. It would set an unfortunate precedent, wouldn't it?' Kylo pulled desperately against his restraints, knowing what was to come, and knowing that he couldn't - wouldn't - do anything about it. He deserved it. And he had no choice.

He let the tip of the dagger graze the surface of Kylo's eye, not causing any damage, but it was enough to provoke a high-pitched scream of fear from him, along with a stream of tears. Hux grabbed his hair to hold his head steady. 'Shhh, now, calm yourself,' he taunted, savouring the expression of pure terror on Kylo's face. 'There's no need for all this. It'll be over before you know it. Just relax.' Even as he said the words, he felt the faintest trace of ghostly fingers around his throat, before, just as quickly, they fell away. 'Good boy, you're learning. Take your punishment like a real man.'

He held Kylo's eye open with his free hand, taking a good look at the beautiful brown iris now shining and wet. He couldn't help leaning close once again and running the tip of his tongue across Kylo's cheek, tasting the bitter, salty tears. He felt Kylo shudder beneath him with silent sobs. The boy had such a pretty face; it was almost a shame to mutilate it in such a way. Almost. 

He was impressed that Kylo didn't make a sound when the dagger slipped into the space between his eye and socket. Maybe he was beyond that stage, or maybe his training had finally kicked in. Either way, it made it so much simpler for the General to extract the offending eye when Kylo was still and compliant. He wondered if the knight could still see him: the other eye was tightly closed, but this one still seemed to be functioning; he could see its tiny capillaries pulsing. 

He removed his free hand and raised it to his mouth. The visceral sight of a tiny trickle of blood running along the dagger's blade had awakened a new, urgent need, and he hastily removed his glove with his teeth. Slowly, so slowly, he pushed his finger alongside the blade, the strange yet thrilling feeling making him shiver in turn. He seldom had the opportunity to get his hands dirty, but, when he did, he enjoyed it to an obscene degree. 

He let his finger slide into Kylo's eye socket until it would go no further, and then removed the blade. He dropped it carelessly to the floor, and gave Kylo a sharp smack to the face to bring him out of his stupor. There would be no point to this punishment if he was completely unconscious throughout. 'I want to be the last thing this eye sees,' the General said, a little too gently. 'Can you still see me?' A faint whine made the General presume he could. 'Very good.' 

He slid another finger alongside the first, moving faster this time, making more rivulets of blood run down along his hand. He was tempted to crush the fragile eye where it lay - what a beautiful mess that would be - but his rational mind insisted that a clean extraction would be the easiest to heal. Need the brat back out on the battlefield quick sharp. 

'How do you think I can fight for you if you do this?' Kylo choked out, taking Hux by surprise. He'd thought the knight was long past the point of arguing. Angered, he tried to push in his fingers further, making Kylo moan in agony once more.

'If your grandfather managed, despite his disfigurements, then I have total faith that you can too,' Hux replied, and, with one elegant movement, tore out the eye.

He ignored Kylo's renewed screams and held the eye gently in his bloody hand, admiring it like a jewel. It looked so small, for something so significant. 'I hope you've learned something here today, Ren,' he said, pressing his other, gloved hand to Kylo's unbloodied cheek and forcing his remaining eye open. He held up his prize where Kylo couldn't help but look at it. 'Insubordination, no matter how seemingly minor, will not be tolerated.'

He took more pleasure than was seemly in watching the tears stream down Kylo's face as he crushed the eye in his bare hand, and even more when he gently touched his gore-coated fingers to Kylo's lips. 'I'll have someone come by to release you in a few hours,' he said. 'In the meantime: think carefully about your future conduct.'


End file.
